Marry into a healthy family

October 16th, 2009

  CourtesyBy DC Correspondent

If you want a happily ever after ending to your love story ensure that a thorough health check is conducted not just on Mr/Miss Right, but their entire family too. Two new studies have suggested that choosing relatives carefully is one way of protecting your heart from being broken. According to one study it was reported if an identical twin suffered from melanoma, this increased the risk of the other twin developing the skin cancer at a later stage. Yes, if your partner’s blood relation is suffering from a disease that can be hereditary, your husband/wife or child too could get it at a later stage in life. This holds true to many ailments like heart problem, various kinds of cancer, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and more. Character traits, finances and others habits can be changed and corrected, but not some deadly genes.
After 15 years of marriage it would be terrible to be told that your spouse or child is suffering from a hereditary disease that he/she inherited from a grandparent. Sometimes, even a parent who is healthy can be a carrier.
It might sound selfish but for long term happiness it’s worth checking out the family’s medical history. You don’t want things like a history of mental issues to be brought to your knowledge only after you discover your sister-in-law behaving a bit crazy. These genes haunt generations and your child could be vulnerable to them.
Things like baldness can be ignored unless you are an extremely vain creature, but be attentive to other serious issues. When conducting a health check look out for things like whether the disease is recessive or dominant. Dr K. Thangaraj, senior scientist and geneticist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad says
“The chances are 50 per cent if the genes causing the disease are dominant. If recessive they are 25 per cent.”
And with certain genes, grandkids are the ones who suffer them.
Also keep an eye out for unhealthy relatives as Dr K. Thangaraj says, “Since Y chromosome is inherited by males, all the male members in the lineage inherit it. In case of maternal lineage, the mitochondrial RNA is
inherited.”
The road to true love is never said to be smooth, but it can surely be a healthy one. While discussing each other’s wants, needs and fears do ensure that you and your partner-to-be discuss each other’s medical history too. If you have any doubts or your partner needs to sort out some issues Dr MN Khaja, senior geneticist, Centre for Liver Research and Diagnostics, Hyderabad recommends genetic counselling. He feels this must be encouraged before marriage. This way both parties will get into the relationship with their eyes wide open and can monitor kids and get them tested from when they are born for certain symptoms. Ignoring or working around a loved one’s flaws is no big deal, but overlooking their rouge gene could be deadly in the long run.